Tarmac Honours Brave Men on Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day 2016 will have a new tribute to the brave men who lost their lives fighting for their country.

‘The Tunstead Oak Tree’ sculpture has been made to honour the 84 employees at Tarmacs lime quarry works in Tunstead Buxton who served and fell during World War 1 and 2. The sculpture has been produced by Paul Widdows at Wharncliffe Forge has taken over months to complete and is made up of 485 separate components.

Blacksmith sculptor Paul has spent hours forging the tree trunk, branches and leaves. The metal oak tree stands over 6 foot tall and has 84 leaves on the tree for each of the men who worked at the Tunstead quarry and lost their lives in World War 1 and 2. The leaves will have a round enamel disc bearing the name of the every fallen employee, which have been produced by Sheffield company House of Logos. The discs have been stamped out from metal, polished, then coloured with an Autumn brown enamel. They are polished one final time, before being printed with the name of a fallen employee.

The Tunstead Oak Tree sculpture will be dedicated on the 11th of November 2016 where employees, dignitaries, representatives from the British Legion and people from the Buxton community will be in attendance.

The Tunstead Oak Sculpture will take pride of place in Tarmacs offices situated in the front reception lounge for all to see. A fitting Remembrance Day tribute to the brave men from Buxton who lost their lives on the battlefields of World War 1 and World War 2.

It is not the first time the Tarmac Tunstead site has produced a memorial, as earlier in the year they unveiled a metal poppy sculpture in memory of the 15 men who worked at the Buxton Lime Firm and laid down their lives during the Battle of the Somme. Tarmac apprentices Liam Garner, Jack Nuttall and George Woodward were instrumental in the production of the Remembrance Day sculpture which takes centre stage in the main Tarmac HQ building.